Power plants – Pressure fluid source and motor – Having plural energy outputs
Patent
1986-01-10
1988-04-05
Chambers, A. Michael
Power plants
Pressure fluid source and motor
Having plural energy outputs
60470, 60493, 144 3D, A01G 2308
Patent
active
047350490
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an operating system for a tree harvester, specifically a grapple processor. The operating system is used for controlling and operating the hydraulic motors of the tree feeder and the crosscut saw and further the hydraulic cylinders required by the operation of the feeder and the limbing blades.
STATE OF THE ART
Previously the control and operating valves in a processor were placed in the power take-off machine itself. In such a case, separate hydraulic lines for all functions were directed via the loading jibs. But in such a case at least six hydraulic lines from the basic machine to the processor are required. Thus a tree harvester, intended as an accessory, was not easy to install even in terms of the lines alone, not to speak of the installation of many new additional valves in the power take-off machine.
Nowadays the aim is to place the processor control valves in the processor itself, but it is necessary to use large-sized valve groups for the control of the necessary hydraulic operations. This for its part increases the weight of the equipment and requires several electrical cables between the power take-off machine and the tree harvester.
Furthermore, these control valves implemented using conventional technology usually require a constant-pressure pump, and soft control of these valves with so-called on-off valves is not possible. Likewise, it is difficult to place in the driver's cabin of the power take-off machine the control levers required by the plurality of functions.
In grapple processors, hydraulics is required during the limbing movement, i.e. the feeding of the tree, for the crosscut saw, and also for pressing the rolls or rollers of the feeder against the tree. In general, the operating movements of the limbing blades are also in the same circuit, i.e. when the feeder is pressed against the tree also the limbing blades move towards the tree. In several grapple processors these have a common double-acting hydraulic cylinder.
TECHNICAL PROBLEM AND ITS SOLUTION
A grapple processor thus requires at least one hydraulic motor for the feeding of the tree. This motor must be able to rotate in both directions. Furthermore, the crosscut saw requires pressurized oil in order to rotate in one direction. This operation takes place always at a time different from the time of the feeding in of the tree. Thus, for gripping the tree and for the limbing blades at least one double-acting hydraulic cylinder is required. By means of this cylinder the pulling rolls and the limbing blades are pressed against the tree. The feeding of the tree and the crosscut saw require pressurized oil about 150 l/min, whereas the cylinder of the feeder and the limbing blades requires only about 30 l/min for the on-off action. During limbing, as the diameter of the tree varies, the cylinder needs pressurized oil only to keep the feeder rolls and the limbing blades pressed against the tree, the pressurized-oil requirement being only about 10 l/min.
In the operating system according to the invention, advantage is taken of the unidirectional pressurized-oil requirement of the saw motor, whereupon all the functions of the grapple processor can be realized simply by utilizing the reversing valve in the power take-off machine. This valve may be, for example the on-off direction control valve of the timber grapple, the valve becoming free when the grapple is replaced by a processor. In this case the controlling of the entire processor requires only two pressurized-oil lines dimensioned for actual power transmission between the power take-off machine and the processor. A third line is required for the return oils of the control valves and the feeder and the limbing blades. In this line the flow volume is low. Furthermore, two separate electromechanical small direction-control valves are required; one controls the pressure of the pulling rolls and the limbing blades and the other controls the on-off valves of the tree feeder motors and the saw motor. Two electrical cables between
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patent: 3512453 (1970-05-01), Bayer
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patent: 4368763 (1983-01-01), Eaton
patent: 4431064 (1984-02-01), Bright
Chambers A. Michael
Fox John C.
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